Chap. VIII. of Monfïeur Tavernièr. 163 



with fix other MoullaWs round about him. The Moutiah made a Difcourfe upon the 

 Death of ffuffein and Hocen of about half an hour long, which being ended, the 

 King caufdaCaliat or Habit of Honour to be giv'n him, as alio to the others, though 

 not lb rich. When they had all put on the Habit , the fame MoulUh rèturn'd to 

 his Chair, and made a Prayer for the health of the King , and the profperity of his 

 Kingdom. 



All thefe Ceremonies lafted from feven in the Morning 'till Noon , at what time the 

 King retir'd into his Haram. As for the People, they carry their Biers up and down 

 the City, and where-ever two Companies meet , whether it be for the upper hand, 

 or to get formoft , they prefently fall together by the Ears , and knock one another 

 dowri: tor they are not permitted to carry any other Arms than good big Clubs, 

 afmoft as big as Levers. 



Some time after the Feaft of Huffein and Hocen, the Per fans celebrate another Fefti- 

 val , which they call the Feaft of the Camel , in remembrance of Abrahams Sacrifice. 

 They have a great reverence for this Feftival , laying that it was a Camel and not a 

 Ram which God lent to reprieve Ijlmael ( affirming that Ijlmael was to have been 

 facrific'd , and not Ifaac.) They choofe out for this Ceremony one of the fairefb 

 Camels they can meet withal , and adorn and drel's him up with feveral Plates of 

 counterfeit Gold and Silver, and then lead him without the City to a place which is 

 before a Mofquee on the other fide of the River of Ijpahan , upon Zulpha fide \ the 

 Deroga or Provoft accompanying the people. The King was formerly wont to be at 

 this Feaft, accompany'd with his Nobility, and I have leen him there \ but of late 

 years he never goes , the Deroga lupplying his place. 



When the King went thither, feveral Moullahs pray'd for half an hour, after which 

 the King took a kind of a Jav'lin and darted itagainft the Camel: but now in the abfence 

 6f the King, the Deroga gives the firft ftroak. At the fame time they fling the Camel to 

 the ground,with Ropes ty'd to his legs,and cutting ofFhis head and neck together,they 

 divide the reft of the Body into eleven parts more , to the end all the twelve Com- 

 panies may have every one their fhare. Every Company carries their fhare to the 

 Mafter of the Companies Houle, who is generally the ancienteft among them. Which 

 part is kept and falted up 'till the next Feaft, and the piece the year before, fo 'till 

 then preferv'd,is then boyl'd with Rice, and is the foundation of the Feaft for the chief 

 of the Company, who take it for an honour to eat of it: For the reft , they boyl 

 Rice with Mutton and Hens, and befides that, diftribute large Alms to the Poor. 



CHAP. VIII. 



Of the Religion of the Gaurs , the flicks of the ancient Perfians, 

 adorers of Fire* 



1*^Here are no men in the world fo fcrupulous of difcovering the Myfteries 

 of their Religion , as the Gaurs ; fo that I was fore'd to frequent their, 

 company very much in moft of my Travels , to pick out what I have here 

 to deliver. 



Of the prefect Condition of the Gaurs. 



AFter the Perfians began to perfecute the Gaurs, great numbers of them retir'd 

 to Sur at, and others into the Province of Guaerat. Now the King of Ter fia 

 lets them live in quiet -, and there are now above ioooo in Kerman, where I ftaid 

 three Months in the year 1 654. All that live in India are Tradefmen , and for the 

 moft part Turners in Ivory -, thofe in Kerman deal in Wool. Four days journey from 

 whence ftands their principal Temple, where their Chief Prieft refides -, whither they 

 are once in their lives oblig'd to go in Pilgrimage. There are fome of thefe Gam s live 

 near Ijpahan. 



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X 2 Of 



